Wherever two or more are gathered in my name, there shall I be also.

by Rebecca Bynum

As many of you know, for many years I have working on the idea of modernizing and simplifying religion and removing the old ideas of sacrifice and atonement. The Urantia book can be a daunting task to read and absorb, but its basic religious tenets can possibly be simplified and distilled as follows:

 

Three commandments:

  1. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.
  2. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
  3. You shall strive to be perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.


Three understandings:

  1. I understand that I am infinitely loved by the Universal Father and His pure and holy Spirit dwells within my mind and cultivates my soul.
  2. I understand that I am the son or daughter of the Living God and that all human beings are my brothers and sisters, in fact and in truth.
  3. I understand that I am beginning an eternal journey; that I have eternal life in the here and now.

 

The Believer’s Prayer (This is the original prayer Jesus taught – notice how the Lord does not lead us into temptation.)

Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come; your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our bread for tomorrow;
Refresh our souls with the water of life.
And forgive us every one our debts
As we also have forgiven our debtors.
Save us in temptation, deliver us from evil,
And increasingly make us perfect like yourself.

 

“Do this in remembrance of me.” (The idea of blood and body as an atonement sacrifice is removed. The Spirit of Truth is Christ’s spirit, also known as The Comforter.)

The wine: “We do this in thankfulness for the gift of the Spriit of Truth.”
The bread: “The word of the Father, as revealed in the Son, is indeed the bread of life.”

 

It is my prayer that a new church can arise on earth which will require nothing more from its believers. No dietary restrictions, no clothing regulations, no ritual obligations, just the taking to heart of the three commandments leading to the three understandings and gradually growing closer to God.

Loving God leads to knowing Him – God-consciousness – the goal of the ages.

Thoughts?